retailer viewpoint
Reduce and reuse – building links with the community Caeryn Collins
Impressions Uniforms Insight talks to inspirational retailer Caeryn Collins from Impressions Uniforms. There’s more than one way to improve the sustainability of schoolwear. Selling eco-friendly and Fair Trade garments is part of the mix, but there are other actions we can take which make a difference. One retailer in the North West is blazing a trail with a reuse scheme that’s putting her business at the heart of the community. What’s more, in pursuing the values she believes in, she’s confounded the accountants and grown her turnover too. ‘Five years ago, I wasn’t happy coming
of families who would otherwise struggle
Impressions Uniforms, with three shops
having to make heart wrenching choices
to work’ say Caeryn Collins, owner of
in the Wigan area. ‘It wasn’t that we had a bad business; it was that I didn’t feel good about all we were doing. I’d sort
of drifted into selling schoolwear after leaving a career in urban renewal for family reasons. I wanted us to play a
about what essentials to buy for their
children. Imagine being the only child in the classroom not in uniform and the impact
that has on your confidence. There had to be ways we could help.’
bigger role in the community, and do
Her accountants didn’t agree. Surely her
That’s why she started Smart Futures,
new purchases? ‘I told them I didn’t care’
more than simply grow our profits.’
a Community Interest Company that
reuses quality schoolwear for the benefit 14
with the costs. ‘Every week I’d see parents
job was to sell uniform and not discourage says Caeryn, ‘And in any event, the families needing help weren’t buying anything
